Any of you search for benchmarks?
Since there isn;t many caches in central WI, I am thinking of searching for benchmarks too. How ever I notice some are in near impossible locations to get to or are underground. Meaning I will need more than just a gPS for some. But hey, it's something else to look for.

http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=PO0540
Ok, that is the closest one to where I am now. THAT one will be tough to find as the completely redid the school a couple of years ago. The school use to just have 3-6 grade but now has k-6. (k-2 use to be in a school in chili WI, this is where I went to grade school). Since the school has changed and been completely rebuilt that leaves out one of the measurements.

Something to look for yes. But remember those are placed by the USGS and NGS, so some are on private property. There's one near my place on a private country club golf course. Often been tempted to go talk to someone there to see if I could go photograph it...

yeah, I noticed. I noticed many here are at places like the electric company, water company, etc... The airport has a couple. Many along the train tracks.

The two closest to me, the one is on school property there, actually it sounds like it is close to the road so it might be on a different branch of the government's property The other is down the road a quarter mile, possibly next to a field.

There isn't much for intown caches here in Marshfield, WI. I might have to remedy that. I'm also going to try and get one hidden at school forest. My cousin in law is head of that That's open to the public for most of the year.

I like benchmarks, but in talking to cachers and benchmarkers it seems like it's rare to find anyone that does both - most benchmarkers have very few cache finds, and vice versa.

I think you'll find that most of the marks are hard to find or gone, due to their age. I don't know how they are out in WI, but one thing's for sure, here in MN don't rely on the coords in the datasheets, they're almost always wrong. The descriptions are much better, but even they are off sometimes as well.

I don't know who did the '91 survey for the State of MN, but I've learned not to trust their claim of "mark not found" - there's plenty that are still there that MNDOT claim are gone, such as this one, this one, and this one that are all in a row on Highway 55.

If you'd rather search for older ones, there are a couple of 101-year old ones I've run across. I love the sense of history on those, with the State of MN only 150-something years old...one's in Shakopee at the Scott County Courthouse, and the other one (pictured below) is in Excelsior. Have fun and happy hunting!

I have only found two benchmarks.... one in South West Wyoming and one in West Central Colorado. Both found quite by accident while searching for other caches. It was kind of cool to just find them like that. Like a little cache bonus.

However..... When I went to log them, there was no record of either one in the geo-system so, no credit.
Makes me wonder how many more unknown benchmarks there are out there?

However..... When I went to log them, there was no record of either one in the geo-system so, no credit.
Makes me wonder how many more unknown benchmarks there are out there?

A lot of BMs aren't registered with NGS, thus they don't appear in the database. I don't know what it's like in the southern part of the state but here up north, MNDOT or the counties don't usually register new marks with NGS. I'm not sure why that is... Thus most of the marks that I see driving around aren't in the database.

Have you seen Candy Apple Green's "Lotsa Hidey Holes"? You have the cache and 4 benchmarks. But one of them is not on the site. I spent too much time looking for the cache that I blew off the benchmarks once I found the cache!
Shane

Due to a long story about a dumb grain suppliar that can't get his order right, I didn't have enough time to pack for my trip to AZ and Vegas. Silly me for my my GPS and my planned list of caches. Neer fear thought I, We'll be going over the Hoover Dam and so benchmarks can be found for cache 100! Well I just logged tem bit the points don't count. Drat Foiled again. _________________Save the earth.
It's the only planet with chocolate.

I hunt benchmarks when I start running low on caches or when there aren't very many caches in an area. For example, today I headed up the north shore and found 12 benchmarks and 2 caches. Of course, I didn't find 13 benchmarks that were on my list. Most benchmarks are placed close to the road. When road construction widens the road, thats the end of those marks.
I particularly enjoy looking for marks that are hard to access, at the top of a cliff for example. But I am a rock and ice climber.